United States officials accuse two Russian RT workers of election influence bid

The United States has filed money-laundering charges against two employees of Russian state media network RT for what officials say was a scheme to hire a US company to produce online content to influence the 2024 presidential election.

Justice Department officials said the two employees used shell companies and fake personas to pay $US10 million ($A15 million) to an unnamed Tennessee company to produce online videos aimed at amplifying political divisions in the US.

The US Treasury and State departments also announced actions targeting RT, including the network’s top editor Margarita Simonovna Simonyan.

US officials said the Russia government’s goal was to exacerbate US political divisions and weaken public support for aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

“We will be relentlessly aggressive in countering and disrupting attempts by Russia and Iran, as well as China or any other foreign malign actor interfere in our elections and undermine our democracy,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said ahead of a meeting on US election threats.

The FBI separately sought court permission to seize 32 internet domains it said were part of Russia’s foreign influence effort.

RT responded with ridicule.

“Three things are certain in life: death, taxes and RT’s interference in the US elections,” the media outlet told Reuters.

The media outlet ceased operating in the United States after Russia invaded Ukraine.

A Russian MP called the reported accusations “pure rubbish” and said the Kremlin does not think it matters whether Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris wins the November 5 election.

“The only winner of the US election is the US private military industrial complex,” State Duma deputy Maria Butina told Reuters.

The Russian embassy in Washington DC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Russian officials have repeatedly said the country has not meddled in the US election.

The criminal indictment charged the two RT employees, Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, with conspiracy to violate US money laundering and foreign agent laws.

Both are based in Russia and remain at large.

The Tennessee company produced nearly 2000 videos on topics like immigration and inflation that have been viewed 16 million times on YouTube since last November, according to the Justice Department.

In one instance, Ms Afanasyeva told the company to provide a video that blamed Ukraine and the United States for a terrorist attack on a Moscow music venue, the Justice Department said.

The indictment does not name the Tennessee company or charge any of its executives with wrongdoing.

However, it alleges that the company failed to disclose that it was funded by RT and that its executives never registered with the Justice Department that they were acting as agents of a foreign government.

Justice Department officials say Russian President Vladimir Putin and his proxies have adopted increasingly sophisticated techniques, targeting specific groups of voters and those in battleground states, and are now using bot farms and artificial intelligence.